Falling Faster
by Sable Aegean
Summary: As the team grieves Shiro's disappearance and struggles to decide on their next move, the emergence of a new enemy (or an old friend) threatens the balance of the universe yet again. It appears that Team Voltron's work isn't over just yet.
1. Lion's Grief

Keith's POV

The paladins gaped at the empty seat before them. No one dared to break the silence. Keith felt Pidge walk out behind him, and Hunk followed her. Keith felt himself move towards the seat, Shiro's seat, but couldn't recall deciding to do that. He couldn't quite recall anything past that. Couldn't recall anything but the fire that burned in him hotter than any flame he'd ever seen. Couldn't recall anything but the yelling that cut through his throat and bounced off the walls of the Black Lion. Couldn't recall anything but the faint sting of his bleeding hands. When he could recall, when his mind began to resurface out of the storming red in his brain, he could see teardrops mixing with droplets of blood on Shiro's control panel. He could see broken bits of the Black Lion and couldn't tell which parts were broken in the fight and which were broken in the red storm that he couldn't quite recall. In the back of his mind he thought he could hear Lance telling him to get up, to go calm down, but maybe that was just in his head. He tried to pushing himself up, but his arms were shaking so hard he couldn't do it, so he just sank back down into the chair. And stared ahead. He lazily thought that he'd probably lose any faith the Black Lion ever had in him, but he didn't care. Because Shiro was missing. The full weight of it hit him in the face. Shiro, who had been like a brother to him, scratch that who _was_ a brother to him, was gone without even a trace. And Keith couldn't do anything. Anything! He could feel the storm rolling in again, when someone grabbed his arm. Lance was next to him, red-eyed, and quiet. Keith suddenly realized that he hadn't heard him leave before the red storm in his brain messed up his brain. "Go get changed." Lance's voice was ragged and hollow. "Get some rest. We all need it." Keith realized the battle had ended only hours ago. He slowly rose out of the seat and stared at the destruction he'd caused for a moment more before following Lance out of the Lion.

 **Lance's POV**

He watched the destruction rain in silence. Lance didn't move to stop his friend from obliterating the control panel in Shiro's Lion, he knew he couldn't stop him. He simply rode out the storm. He sat cross-legged on the floor and waited. He winced in pain, but couldn't tell what hurt until he realized he'd been chewing on his pinkie. He used to do that when he was a kid, when anything upset him, he'd start chewing on his hand, absently. His mother thought it was just an extension of outgrowing sucking his thumb a little late. His oldest sister, Ramira, used to slap his hand away from his mouth when he started chewing on it. Suffice to say that midterms and finals left him with red hand's. He missed his family. He hadn't known Shiro as well as the others had, he couldn't figure out how to connect with him. Allura knew what it was like to be leader, Pidge's family knew him, Hunk just made friends easily, and Keith had known him back in school. Lance would never admit it out loud, but he'd always admired them. Shiro was the model of what a leader should be even back in school. They'd wanted to send him to Command School early, before he was given the Kerberos assignment. Everyone liked him. Even if you weren't his friend, you at least had a begrudging respect for the guy. Lance always wanted to be that. It wasn't the popularity he wanted, he was fairly well-known himself, but to be able to take control of a situation and keep everyone safe. Shiro's disappearance was like losing your last line of defense. The fact that they couldn't form Voltron without him was the least of his worries. Without Shiro, Lance was afraid they wouldn't be able to keep themselves together. He was pulled from his thoughts at the sudden realization that everything had gone quiet. He looked up and saw Keith slumped in the chair, staring at his hands with glazed over eyes. Lance gently called for his friend to come out and rest, and Keith must have heard him. He tried to push himself up, but was shaking so badly he fell again. Lance sat up and pulled Keith out of the chair, telling him to go get some rest. He also told himself to go to sleep, everything would look clearer in the morning.

When he went to bed, he stared at the darkened lights above him, praying silently for Shiro's return. His hand absently flew to his mouth. In his dreams, Ramira knocked it away.

 **Pidge's POV**

Pidge sat at the counter in the kitchen with her head on the table. Hunk slid a cup of coffee across the counter to her. She felt, well, she couldn't quite tell how she felt. Empty. Like another piece of her had disappeared. She thought it was because Shiro was the only connection to Matt and father left, But she realized it was separate from that. Over the past few months, they'd become friends. She sort of felt like it was having another brother. Then she felt like that was betraying Matt and pushed the thought fro her mind. She picked up her head and thanked Hunk for the coffee. "Has Keith left the Black Lion yet?" She asked. Keith's yelling had rung through the silence of the castle, but no one went after him. Everyone had either been enveloped in their own grief or decided to let him drain his energy, Pidge included. "Yeah, I heard him go in his room a little while ago," Hunk responded. She nodded and slid off the stool in front of the counter. "Where're you headed?" Hunk asked in a way that sounded like he already knew the answer. "To Shiro's Lion," She said as casually as she could, but her voice caught a bit. "Gonna assess the damage, see what needs to be repaired." Hunk nodded and follower her out without further questioning.

3 hours later (or what seemed like 3 hours, Pidge could never tell), Pidge was still bent over Shiro's control panel. Hunk sat on the floor next to her, handing her this tool or that, fetching Coran once or twice to explain how this piece or that usually worked. She tried to become her work, the way she did when Matt and her dad first disappeared. She let the wires and mechanisms swallow her up. She only spoke to ask for Hunk to hold things closed or to pass her something. When tears started sliding down her face, she didn't acknowledge them until her eyes blurred and she couldn't see her work anymore. Pidge reached up to wipe her eyes before realizing they were covered in Altean grease from the Lion. Hunk sighed and grabbed a cloth from the stack he'd brought and wiped her eyes. She nodded silent thanks and returned to her work.

 **Hunk's POV**

Hunk's heart hung heavily in his chest, as he watched Pidge work. He'd been the one to tell Allura and Coran about Shiro. He'd watched the faces of each of his friends the moment they broke. He saw the fire burning in Keith's eyes, the downpour of tears threatening Lance's. He saw the utter disbelief in Allura's face as she pushed past to see for herself, and Coran's quiet resignation as he turned back to the ship's controls. He had watched Pidge wipe the look of astonishment off her face and replace it with a face simultaneously expressing nothing and everything. And now he watched the face, totally unchangeable, no matter how hard he tried to make her smile or laugh, or even look up. He remembered how Shiro knew how to get everyone to talk to him. Shiro knew how to keep the group together. Even though Keith was technically going to be leader now, Hunk knew he would have to be able to hold everyone together the way Shiro had. Well, maybe not the way Shiro had. No one could give a person hope the way Shiro could. But Hunk would try. He would do his very best for his friends. For Shiro.

 **Coran's POV**

Coran watched the various members of the team slink through the corridors like lost souls. He looked on as Keith twitched and lashed out. As Pidge worked feverishly on the Black Lion. As Lance stared without direction with red eyes, chewing on his fingers. As Hunk fetched Pidge's tools with a look of quiet determination, hastily wiping tears when he thought no one was looking. They'd all fallen into their own separate holes at the moment they needed each other the most. And Allura. Coran had sent her to bed immediately after hearing the news. She didn't have the physical strength to do anything drastic, but she had the unmatched determination. Her eyes looked conflicted, like she wasn't sure how she should express her grief. Grief. He'd been calling it that, this depression, in his head, but he didn't like using that word for it. It made it sound like the damage was done. Like Shiro was dead. And maybe he was but, Coran refused to accept until it could be proved. He would let them "grieve" but ultimately they had to put their heads together and find a way to bring him home. Find a way to send them all those children, home. Coran often thought about what he would do when the fight with Galra was over. He thought he and Allura might settle on Earth when they bring the paladins home. Or maybe they'd all stay superheroes, fighting intergalactic foes all over the universe. Maybe they'd send the paladins home and keep roaming the universe on their own, looking for other surviving Alteans. At the moment, it's seems like they'd be stuck in this perpetual aftermath forever. But Coran refused to allow that to happen.

 **Allura's POV**

Allura stood next to her bed, staring at the hole she'd burned in her blankets. She didn't fully understand how her new magic worked, and didn't particularly care. If Shiro were here, he'd think through a careful strategy to help her begin to control her newfound power. But he wasn't here. And her power didn't seem to want to yield to her. It fought her, she could feel it churning inside her, spilling from her at random moments. She thought the bed was on fire when she woke up, and realized that it was her steaming. She put out the flames and stared at her own hands. In due time, steaming tears rolled down her face. She couldn't do this anymore. She didn't want to do this anymore. She didn't want to keep jeopardizing the lives of the paladins, these young kids who wanted nothing more than safety for their families, for their planet. She hated herself for doing this to children. In the moment it didn't occur to her that she herself was but a child. She wished she'd died in that pod. In stasis, so she wouldn't have to be here to turn teenagers with everything to live for into weapons. The full weight of it hit her. Aside from Shiro, they'd all still been students when this had happened, and Shiro was only fresh out of college. They had _families,_ families like she used to have that were probably worried sick over them, parents that might be thinking they're children they used to cradle in their arms were dead. The tears seemed to thicken on her face, and Allura reached up to touch them. They were no longer normal tears, but tears that glowed with a purple-ish light. Her tears were pure magic, the closest thing to quintessence without actually being so. The floor sizzled each time a drop hit it, but she didn't care. All she cared about now was getting them home.


	2. Family

**Ch. 2: Family**

 **Coran's POV**

They sat in the main living room of the ship. Coran had called them all together. It'd been three days and decisions needed to be made on their next move. Nobody seemed to really be mentally present though. Pidge was staring at her laptop with empty and probably dry eyes and paid no attention to her surroundings. Keith stared straight ahead with a clenched expression. Lance moved to chew on his pinkie, but Keith gently pulled the other boy's hand back down. Hunk leaned against the couch and observed the other paladins with a sad look on his face. Allura had chosen to sit on the floor, she'd said didn't want to burn a hole in the couch. Coran shook his head.

"We need to decide on our next move." He said, his voice firm but quiet. Keith looked at him, but no one else moved to acknowledge that Coran had spoken. "I know this is hard for you, it's hard for me, too. You've gone through things no one should ever have to go through, but we need to progress, we need to move on."

Allura turned so fast, it looked like her neck would snap. "Move on?' she exclaimed, incredulous, "Shiro disappeared _three days ago!_ We just ended a war and you want us to _move on?_ "

Right away, Coran knew had misspoken. He tried to amend it. "If you want to find Shiro, we need to figure out a plan of action from here on out."

Keith spoke up. "Coran's right. Every second we waste is time better spent finding Shiro." Coran was glad for the assent.

Allura objected. "Oh no, you all are going home. Coran and I'll find Shiro, if he's still-" She cut herself off.

"No." Keith said immediately. "We're a team, even if there isn't a threat anymore. We've all been through too much together to just leave now. And besides, you don't really think the threat is gone, do you?" No one responded. "There are still Galra who are loyal to Zarkon. Who knows what they could be planning."

Coran could feel the tension beginning to boil, and regretted calling everyone in the first place. "Aside from a few skirmishes, I haven't found any evidence that those loyal to Zarkon are even gathering together." He put in. Keith glanced at Pidge for confirmation of that fact.

"Everyone's just rebuilding from the destruction now." She confirmed.

"Then we should help with the reconstruction effort. We can't stop now-" Keith fought on.

Allura would not budge on her stance. "You need to go home! You have _families_! Families who are worried sick about their children who just up and disappeared one day." "We did this for them, don't you think we realize that!"

"Keith," Lance spoke up, "Maybe she's right. This isn't our fight anymore-"

"There _isn't_ a fight anymore!" Allura butt in. Keith looked on the verge of a rage, but Hunk stopped him. "Whoa, let's just think about this for a second."

Keith clenched his fists, but sat back down. "Let's take a vote." He said through clenched teeth. "All in favor of running home crying to their mothers, say I"

"I!" This came from Lance. Keith stared daggers at him.

"You-"

"Oh sorry, but I happen to care about my family, and your issues aren't going to stop me, or any of us from _going home_!" Lance's face bore a look of regret immediately after the words left his mouth. Keith was deadly silent. The air in the room crackled and popped with an electricity that probably came from Allura.

"Why can't anyone just accept my decision the way you accepted Shiro's decisions?" Keith's tone had risen above the cautious voices of the others.

Allura seemed to glow with anger. "Because Shiro would have let them leave!" She screeched. Hunk decided to stop this then and there. "Look, everyone needs to calm down and breath. Everything that's happened is still fresh and it still hurts and we should talk things out when the wounds aren't still bleeding."

"I'm sorry, guys," Coran said, "I thought maybe you'd be ready. I-I didn't think." Allura stormed out, and the cloud of popping electricity left with her. Hunk heaved a sigh and headed off towards the kitchen. Keith and Lance sat across from each other in a tense silence.

Coran coughed, "Um, Pidge, would you mind helping me out in the Bridge?"

Pidge looked up. "Why-oh." She glanced at the boys. "Okay." And she followed him out.

 **Pidge's POV**

Pidge sat in her Paladin's seat in the bridge as she watched Coran do a quick once-over of the ship's vitals.

"You should've set a course for Earth and not given them a choice." She pointed out.

Coran turned from the controls and smiled at her. 'It's not like any of you would've actually left anyways. Allura will accept that soon enough."

"Are you sure? Not even Lance?"

"Lance would be the last person to leave. He does obviously love and miss his family. But he loves you guys and would miss you all if he went home."

Pidge disagreed, but didn't argue. She knew from their time at the Garrison together that he cared more about his family than anything in the world. He never shut up about them, and that was one of the reasons she had tried to avoid him whenever possible. His unending chatter about his family made Pidge miss her own even more.

"Besides," Coran continued, "It would be a waste to take you all the way back to the Milky Way, when we're much closer to the Yggiz Galaxy where the Galra, and presumably Shiro, are." Pidge felt something within her clench at the mention of Shiro's name.

"Do you really think he's still out there?" She blurted out. Over the last few days, mentions of Shiro had been scarce, and no one had dared to even present the notion of him being dead. Coran turned back towards the bridge controls and looked out at the empty space before them. All that space. And Shiro could be anywhere.

"I don't know," Coran said after a while. "But we can't give up until we know something for sure, right?" he said quietly, almost to himself. Pidge wanted Shiro back just as much as she wanted her family back, but she had leads on her family. She was sure her family had a chance.

 **Keith's POV**

Lance spoke first. "Look I'm sorry-"

"No," Keith cut him off, "I get it, you guys wanna go home, I do too, but don't we own it to Shiro to stay and help find him?"

Lance glanced away. "Are we sure he still out there to be looked for?"

Keith was taken aback. "You,' He swallowed hard, "You don't think he's alive?" Lance must have seen the astonishment in his eyes, because he tried to backtrack.

"He might still be out there, but Allura might be onto something. We weren't prepared for this. It's a lot to take in. We're not all as strong as you."

Keith blanked. "What?" Lance had started in on his hand again, and Keith put it back down.

"You can stay, if you want, but I don't think I'd be much help."

"Not..much help?" Keith mumbled. He didn't want to admit it, but he drew on the strength of his friends a bit more than he liked. One thing he drew on a whole lot had been Lance's ever present humor lightening the mood. He couldn't quite find the right words, so he kept quiet. Lance seemed to have already moved on from the comment though, he sighed and glanced up at Keith with a sad smile.

"Back home, I've got three sisters, two brothers, my parents, my grandparents, my uncle and my cousin. I'm the 3rd oldest." Keith suddenly realized that he didn't know much about Lance, or where he was from. They didn't talk much back at the Garrison, and there hadn't been much time to talk on their impromptu mission to save the universe. Well, there had been some time, but it had never occurred to him. "Abner's the oldest. He was so jealous when I got into the Garrison, but he got over it fast. Said he'd get to hang out with all the beach babes in Varadero without any competition."

"Varadero?" Keith asked.

"It's in Cuba. Hey, I never did ask, where are you from?" Keith was surprised by the question. With all that had happened, he'd nearly forgotten the answer.

"Oh, I'm just from Arizona…"

"Do you miss it?" Lance asked. Keith hadn't lived there since he was about 12, when his dad died. After that, he bounced from orphanage to orphanage until he applied for dorm lodging at the Garrison. He could tell the ladies who ran the home had been glad when the application was accepted, probably because they wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. Keith was reminded of a conversation he overheard the ladies who ran the home having the night before he left. The other children were all fast asleep and he was supposed to be, too, only he'd decided the sneak out with a couple of the other older kids to hang around the local convenience store and kick stray cats. The others crashed when they got back, but Keith went downstairs and heard "That boy's gonna be the death of me."

"I hear you," another voice agreed, "He looked like he was damn near stabbing lil' Damaris" Keith had become indignant at this. He wouldn't stab a child, even though she was an annoying little brat…

"He's quite capable of it, carrying that godforsaken knife everywhere." This part was somewhat true. During his orphanage days, the blade was always in his boot or in his hand. He practiced knife throwing on a tree out back when he was bored and had become quite proficient at it.

"No one's gonna adopt a possible killer." the other lady remarked

"No one's gonna adopt a 15-year-old anyway." the first one said. Keith left before he could hear more.

"I guess I miss it sometimes." He said finally. "It was simpler there."

"So you wanna go back?" Lance asked. Keith kept quiet. There was nothing to go back to. Suddenly the air grew warmer and Allura swept into the room.

"Um, Keith, do you have a moment?" asked Allura stiffly. Keith set an impassive expression on his face, stood, and glanced back and Lance. Lance cracked a smile, and Keith turned to Allura. "Yeah, I guess."

 **Allura's POV**

Allura leaned against the counter in the kitchen.

"Is there something you want?" Keith spoke first.

"I just-" Allura had trouble getting the words out. "I-I'm sorry for lashing out at you before."

"Okay."

"It's just-I mean-I'm sorry."

"You already said that."

Allura took a deep breath. "I mean, I'm sorry I got you all into this mess in the first place. You're just children and already you've risked your lives for-"

"I think we're passed this point, Princess, what is it you want?" Keith's patience was obviously thin.

"I just want to know why you won't go home."

"We have so much work to do here and I'm more useful-"

"What about your family?"

Keith turned away from her. "I don't have any."

Allura was struck. She realized that Keith had never really spoken about his family, even after he found out he was Galra.

"Oh. I-I didn't mean to-"

"I know you didn't mean to," Keith turned back to her. "It's just-Allura, you would know, better than any of us, except maybe Coran, what it's like to have nothing to go back to. There really isn't anything left for me on Earth." Allura knew he didn't mean for the words to hurt, but they did, the memories of her father, of her whole kingdom, her whole _planet_ came flooding back to her at full force. She gripped the edge of the counter so tight her knuckles whitened, as if she'd fall apart if she loosed her grip at all. "Remember," Keith continued, "how you said that we were like a family to you now? All of us?" Allura didn't know what would come out if she opened her mouth, so she simply nodded. "That's exactly how I feel about these guys. And you, Allura." Keith stared down at his hands. "I never had siblings before. There were younger kids in the orphanages, kids they sometimes put me in charge of. But I never had anyone to really look up to, until Shiro and you." Allura felt tears welling up behind her eyes. "I have role models now," He kept going, "of the kind of person, the kind of leader I want be someday. And you're one of them."

"Keith-" Allura tried, but she gave up on talking and threw her arms around the younger boy. Keith tensed a little, but returned her hug. She smiled a little, remembering how when she was little, she'd always wanted a little brother. Her stomach still twinged with worry though. She wanted to protect him and the others even more than before, if that was possible. She wanted this boy to have a chance to become the leader he wanted to be, but she knew he wasn't ready. Everyone knew that Shiro wanted Keith to lead in his absence, but Allura wasn't sure he could do it. Not yet, at least. He needed more time. She needed to teach him better. She finally let go of him.

"It's not that I don't want the help of you and the other paladins," began, "But I know how desperately you all wanted to go home. I didn't want you to end up in any more danger than I'd already put you through."

Keith sighed and leaned back against the wall. "We made a decision to stay. It's not your fault. Any of it. Don't beat yourself up."

Allura wanted to mention that Keith was the king of beating himself up, but she held her tongue. "I cannot help but feel responsible for anything that happens to my family."

 **Hunk's POV**

When Hunk came into the dining room for dinner he almost fainted at the sight of the company before him. The fact that everyone had even shown up for dinner was a miracle in and of itself, but that they were _getting along?_ Even Keith and Allura, who had looked about 5 seconds from killing each other earlier, were laughing and talking. The air still hung thick, and sad glances were thrown towards Shiro's empty seat at the head of the table, but the mood of the room had definitely risen.

"Thank God, I thought the apocalypse was gonna happen before you guys got it together," Hunk mumbled with a small smile, and took his seat at the table. His smile faded when his gaze found Pidge. She tried her best to look as calm and happy as the others, but she was obviously uncomfortable. Hunk tried to lean around Lance and talk to her, but soon Coran came out with the food (Hunk silently commended himself for teaching Coran the finer arts of cooking) and everyone's attention was diverted elsewhere. They all ate like they hadn't eaten in days, which was likely. Lance had wandered the halls near their rooms, but never came near the kitchen. Keith had just sort of disappeared, something he used to do rather often when they first became paladins. And Pidge didn't eat much generally, so she probably didn't eat at all the last few days. Pidge aside, everyone seemed to be less on edge than they were earlier. Hunk thought absently that his services as a mediator might not be necessary anymore. This thought saddened him, just a little. It wasn't as if he liked seeing his friends fight, but he did like being the one to help them through bad times, being a voice of reason and comfort. He liked being needed. What would he do if wasn't?

After dinner, they regrouped in the bridge. When Hunk entered, Coran manned the controls, Allura stood at her post, and, surprisingly, Keith was standing in the center of the room awaiting everyone's attention. As soon as he opened his mouth to speak though, the ship lurched. The main control panel went berserk, and the ship's lighting flashed red. Keith spun towards Coran.

"What's going on?" He asked, his voice wavering slightly.

"Not sure," Coran mumbled, his hand flying across the main controls. Pidge jumped up to help him. Suddenly, the whole ship went dark. The only screen lit up was the hologram in front of Allura's post. A figure appeared. It was a handsome, rather young man with long slicked back white hair and violet skin. Hunk assumed he was Galra. The young man cocked a grin at Allura, who stepped back, shocked. The man spoke, his voice chilling and quiet.

"Did you miss me, Princess?"


End file.
